Four Elements Book 1 - Hidden Powers

Chapter 12 - Friendly Intervention - part 2

 She looked down at the sound of two children chasing each other in the garden opposite her house, and told herself that things were so much simpler when you were ten years old than when you were eighteen.

Isabelle, Emily and Jessica soon saw they wouldn't change Andie's mind, so they stopped trying and eventually took their leave. But if they put the subject aside for the moment, the former masters didn't. They were trying not to intervene because they weren't sure it was their place. But they still had opinions and shared them.

 “... Is it me, or is Andie dealing with what happened to Bane a little... dangerously?” River asked with concern.

They could meet up with each other without the girls hearing or seeing them. Of course, Balon was not there, now.

“No, she is,” Ardente agreed with a frown. “It's beginning to scare me, actually. She's always been so responsible, rule-abiding... But if she doesn't listen to her closest friends, I'm not sure she'll listen to us...”

“Well, maybe precisely because we're not as close to her, she will...” Terra pointed out.

 “I'm not so sure...” Aera argued, shaking her head. “I think we all know we'd probably do something like this if we were in her shoes...”

 They all knew they especially meant Ardente. In fact, they were a little surprised that she wasn't agreeing with Andie, as Bane's coma kept her from Balon as well.

 “I miss Balon, of course,” she said. “It would be pointless to deny it. But I accept that in this form, there is little I can do.”

There was a thoughtful pause.

 “... What if we tried healing him? Bane than the Isabelle or the girls?” Aera asked. “That would solve everything!”

 “I'm certainly willing to try,” Ardente said. “It would avoid Andie and the others taking so many risks, and it would solve Andie's concerns about Isabelle healing him.”

 “We'd never have the power...” Terra sighed. “We barely have enough to take on tangible forms...”

 The others didn't answer. They had to admit that she had a point.

 “I wish we could help them more...” Ardente said.

 “I think we shouldn't interfere,” River said quietly. “People learn best from their mistakes, after all...”

 Ardente and the others didn't disagree, but couldn't help wondering if the possible consequences were really worth it.

Andie slept badly, that night. She dreamed of Bane again, and the disagreement with her friends still rattled her, as well. She had only rarely had disagreements with any of them, if ever, and she'd hated every single one. Of course, the rational part of her knew they were inevitable, especially since they all had such different personalities... But that didn't make them enjoyable, she told herself the next morning as she sat on the window seat, thinking, like she often did when she felt unhappy. She half had a mind to call them and apologize, but she knew they'd try and talk her out of her plan again, and she didn't want it to turn into a real argument. Her friends and family were the only think that kept her afloat at the moment, and she wasn't sure she would stand there being a wedge between her and either of them.

Oh, who am I kidding...? She thought sadly, staring at the gray sky outside. It's already happening... with my family because I have to lie to them and I can't be around with them as much so I don't lead the demons to them... and with my friends because they can't understand how I feel...